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"The increase in Medicaid enrollments across the country is encouraging," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a government blog posting.

The latest data show for the first time actual enrollments in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from Oct. 1 through February 28 for 46 states that have reported statistics to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Until now, HHS has been able to release only the number of people who have qualified for coverage.

Friday's report did not specify the number of Americans who have gained health coverage for the first time through Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, which has been accepted in some form by 26 states. Administration officials said they expect to produce a breakdown in the coming weeks.

The current data includes people who qualify for Medicaid programs that have existed for decades, but it does seem as if the health care law is the reason behind many of the new enrollees: Medicaid enrollment has been brisker in states that are expanding the program – with a rate 8.3 percent higher than before Oct. 1. States that have not expanded Medicaid have seen enrollment rise by only 1.6 percent.

Medicaid, which is overseen by the federal government but administered by states, has long provided health coverage to only a fraction of America's poor. In many states, Medicaid

coverage is available largely to pregnant women and the severely disabled. CHIP is a sister program of Medicaid designed specifically for low-income children.

Obamacare calls for expanding Medicaid to all low-income Americans earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which currently stands at $11,670 a year for an individual and $23,850 for a family of four.

The law originally required all states to expand Medicaid. But a landmark 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling made the decision optional.